Nicholas Afonsky

(1891, Russia - 1943, USA)

Nicholas Afonsky fled from Russia to the United States in 1917. He worked as an assistant on the comic strip 'Minute Movies' by Edgar Wheelan, until he was employed by William Randolph Hearst of King Features (according to Wheelan, Hearst did this to spite him, since he left King a few years earlier). Some of the comics he drew were 'Fablettes' and 'Heroes of American History'.

Little Annie Rooney

Nicholas Afonsky was the artist on the Sunday page comic 'Ming Foo'. This strip was actually a spin-off of 'Little Annie Rooney' which was created by Ed Verdier and Brandon Walsh in 1927. Soon the Sunday pages were drawn by Afonsky and written by Brandon Walsh (who had worked on 'The Gumps' with Sidney Smith). In 1934, the oriental Ming Foo was introduced in the strip, and he got his own Sunday page in 1935. Walsh's adventurous storytelling and Afonsky's engaging artwork resulted in a strip that ran for almost a decade. Nicholas Afonsky died in the USA in 1943.